Bette Ammon, the Missoula, Montana library director written about in this article, is just one of many people in this country fighting to keep the federal government -- John Ashcroft and the Bush administration in particular -- from eroding our privacy and other Constitutional rights.
Here in the Intermountain West, Bette and her husband Randy have been in the forefront of championing and defending 1st Amendment rights for over 20 years. I just happen to know this because they've been my dearest friends for that same amount of time. This article by Sherry Jones of the Missoulian appeared in today's edition:
If this be 'patriotism' ...
Libraries, bookstores take a stand against the USA Patriot Act
Is "Land of the free and home of the brave" becoming just a quaint nostalgic notion? With a national law allowing the government to seize our library records at any time for any reason, the only ones who are truly "free," it seems, are the feds -- free to snoop into anyone's research at any time without a warrant, without having to say "why" or to tell the person being investigated that he or she is under scrutiny.
And the brave ones? Librarians like Bette Ammon who are contesting Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, a 340-page law adopted by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, destruction of the World Trade Center by Middle Eastern terrorists. The offensive section not only allows the government to look at Ms. Jones' library records, and yours, dear reader, behind our backs, it also forbids Ms. Ammon from telling anyone that those records have been requested -- the "most insidious" aspect of the law, she told more than 100 people gathered Monday at a League of Women Voters luncheon discussing the Patriot Act.
In one fell swoop, the government has rescinded its own First Amendment protections of free speech -- for the folks doing the research as well as those administering it. Librarians, booksellers and the American Civil Liberties Union are working to change Section 215.
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In the meantime, though, there are ways to get around the law and the Missoula Public Library is using as many of them as its staff and board members can think of.
Check out a book and return it by the due date -- and poof! The book title disappears from your record in their computer system.
Sign up to use the library's Internet computers, and you'll only be asked for your first name -- and the sheet with that name on it will be shredded that day. What's more, the computers' caches clear themselves every time they're re-booted, which is every morning, Ammon says.
"We're working hard to preserve your freedoms," she told the crowd.
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Are we sheep, or American citizens? Librarians and booksellers know what THEY are -- purveyors, and yes, protectors, of one of our most fundamental freedoms -- that of language.
"I think people need to not be afraid," Ammon told the crowd. "We can take a stand. Otherwise, what we end up having is not what we're protecting: a democratic society."
Click here to read the entire article.
Want to do your part? The article recommends you call your congresspersons, donate money to the ACLU, and most important -- VOTE!